Blast in Cagayan de Oro restaurant kills 6, injures 37

ZAMBOANGA CITY – A bomb explosion ripped through a restaurant full of diners in Cagayan de Oro City, killing six people and wounding as many as 37 others, army officials said Saturday.

Major Rosa Maria Cristina Manuel of the Eastern Mindanao Command said the blast occurred before midnight Friday at the Kyla’s Bistro in Lim Ket Kai Center.

She said police and military are investigating the explosion and gathering evidence to determine the type of bomb used in the attack.

“We still don’t know at this time. Authorities are still investigating the blast. Six people are confirmed dead and 37 others wounded,” Manuel told The Manila Times.

It was not immediately known how the bomb was slipped through the restaurant’s security undetected.

No individual or group claimed responsibility for the explosion, but it occurred just as former Moro rebels denounced Manila’s failure to comply with a peace accord signed in 1996 and fresh threats of war in the southern region.

Officials have not named any suspects or group behind the bombing, but Cagayan is one of the peaceful cities in the southern Philippines, although its neighboring provinces in northern Mindanao are known stronghold of communist insurgents.